Tales of SAO
by airwatcher
Summary: This is the story of my time in SAO. This is how my life changed. This is how I survived to live on after SAO. This is my life story throughout SAO. My name is Gabriel Rian and I am now one of the few survivors from SAO. OC character as main character. Kirito as supporting character. Kirito/Asuna side pairing. Kirito-Gabriel Partnership.
1. Beginning of a Partnership

Ch. 1: Beginning of the partnership

I don't own Sword Art Online or any of the characters

My name Is Gabriel Rian. I live in Denver, Colorado. The year is 2022. The date is November 6th 2022. I am 13 years old and I just graduated from middle school. I have just purchased the new video game technology, Full Dive for the new Sword Art Online. I will enter the world of Sword Art Online, the world of Aincrad.

"Link Start!" I yelled after the full dive helmet turned on. I went through the basic creation of my avatar as well as choosing my username, Gabriel. My avatar had dark brown skin, long silky hair that was tied in a ponytail and reached the low of my back. I had cerulean blue eyes. I was about 6'1". I wore a black long sleeve shirt and grey jeans as well as black shoes. The fighting style I have decided on is a speed based, one handed sword, nom shield style. My starting sword is called ice blade for it's ice like color.. The extra skills I have are tracking, parry, speed, acrobatics, one-handed sword, night vision, and battle healing.

|Town of Beginning: November 6th 2022 :1:00 p.m.|

I appeared in the town of beginning before going to browse in the gift shop for anything useful. I did get a notebook for free, which contained all the information that the Beta Testers compiled. As I was browsing I saw a kid in black running with an actual sense of direction and not just exploring. I ran while yelling, "Hey you!"

The kid slowed down and turned around to look at me.

"Hi, my name is Gabriel. You were one of the beta testers for this game right?" I asked

"Yeah. My name is Kirito. What of it?"

"Could you show me the ropes. I know absolutely nothing about this game. Could just give me a few pointers or something?" I pleaded.

"Sigh. Sure, I can. Let's go to a hunting ground. What kind of fighting style are you using?"

"A one handed sword style without a shield. You?"

"Same. What made you choose that?" asked Kirito as we walked to one of the nearby hunting grounds.

"Well, I wanted to go for speed. A shield would just slow me down. The way I figure it, if you can't get hit, you'll have a better chance at surviving in this game."

"Heh. So I'm not the only one who came to that conclusion," said Kirito as we arrived at the hunting grounds.

"Okay, Gabriel, the first things you need to remember is that you feel no pain. Even if you instinctually think there is pain, there really isn't any pain at all. Now trying killing one of those boars," said Kirito while pointing at one of the many boars in the area. I nodded and drew my sword from my back. I then charged the boar with my sword and took a swipe at it. The boar just dodged it.

"Gabriel, you have to use your sword skills. Choose which one you want to use, get into position, before letting it explode."

"Ok. Let me try again. Focus on the skill I want to use. Forward stab. Grab hold of it. Get into position. Then let it Explode!" I said as my blade glowed dark purple and rushed forward at the boar and then killing it.

"YOSH! See that Kirito, I just killed a boar. What level was that?"

"Gabriel, that was like a slime. Not even recognizable. Want to continue?"

"Yeah. But what level are you?"

"Same as you, level1."

"Oh, right. But I am almost level 2, yes!" I exclaimed. Kirito and I then continued to go hunting throughout the hunting grounds near the town of beginning. At 5:30, I said, "Kirito, I have to log out. My family is making some miso ramen for me. Let's party sometime. Friend?" I asked as I held out my hand to Kirito. Kirito smiled and took my hand and said, "Friend." I then pulled up my menu screen before looking confused.

"Kirito," I asked, "how do you log out?"

"There should be a log out button on the bottom of your menu screen."

"There isn't one. I also already called the game master, but they're not replying. What do I do? IS there some other way of logging out?"

"No. There isn't said Kirito," before we were surrounded by a blue light and deposited in the plaza at the Town of Beginning.

"Ne, Kirito, what was that?" I asked.

"That was a forced teleport. But why-" asked Kirito before the sky turned red and a game master appeared in the sky.

"Players of SAO, I am the sole game master. My name is Kabaya Akihiko. You all have noticed by now that there is no log out option. This is not a bug. That is the intended option. You may be wondering why would I do this. It is so that I can control what goes on in this world. A world where I am a god. But I do have a gift for all you." I checked my items lists, and there was a new item. I took out the item, Mirror. After I looked at it the mirror shattered. When I looked at Kirito, someone vastly different stood in his place.

"Kirito?" I asked tentatively.

"Gabriel," Kirito asked.

"Yes." My appearance to had changed. I know had Neck length, thick hair, and brown eyes. Other than that, I looked the same.

"Now you look the same," said Akihiko. "But there is something else yu should now. 200 people have already died and when you die here, it's permanent. They died because their helmets were removed. Hope that no one does that to you or you will die. The only way for you to escape this world and return to the real world is to get to the top of Aincrad. You must defeat all 100 floors and bosses. That is all. Good luck," said Akihiko before disappearing. I was going into shock before Kirito grabbed my arm and ran into an alley.

"Listen, Gabriel, let's go. I know where we can get a lot of good quests and hunting grounds. But it can only be us two. Anymore would slow us down," said Kirito.

"Meh. Why not? Not like I know anyone else. Let's go," I said. We then ran out of town. As we ran, two wolves came at us. We both activated our sword skill and killed one of the wolves. Right then, I made up my mind. I would clear this game and go back to the world of the living. I will survive and return home to all my friends, aunts, and uncles.

**A/N**

**Sorry everyone if the speech by Akihiko is too short. Anyways, here is the first chapter of Tales of SAO. Hopefully I can make this story good enough. This will have a pairing, though I'm not sure who to have. I'm leaning towards either Silica or Lisabeth. Tell me what you think. Read and Review. ARIGATO.**

**~Sorry for changing it again, realized that I had the year wrong 2023 instead of 2022~**

**~Thank you to chippermovie for pointing out that I made my OC like Klein. Can't have that happening. Cake to you~**


	2. Rise of the Beater and the White Dragon

Ch. 2- Rise of the Beater and the White Dragon

|Town of Beginnings: August 9, 2023: 3:00 p.m.|

It's been a month since Kirito and I left the Town of Beginning. We both have gained strength exponentially. I was now level 7, while Kirito was level 10. We both had gotten new swords as well. I have no idea what his is called, but mine is called the Fang of the Dragon Hatchling. It had a very intricate dragon on its thin blade. We also had gotten some more extra skills. We both got some unarmed skill, but only half of it. The other half is on level 20. I also got the blade throwing skill. I always keep some shruiken in my tools pouch that is position left hip. We also met a guy named Klein. He was the leaeder of the Fuurinkazan. He had requested we help him and his guild in training. Right now we were at meeting held by the player known as Diabel. I think he fancies himself a knight with the way he is dressed.

"So," continued Diabel, "We will attack the boss in parties. According to the data compiled by the beta testers, the boss is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He also has sentinels to help him. At first, Illfang will use a buckler and a bone axe. However, when he reaches his last hp gauge, his fighting style changes completely. He discards his weapons and starts using a Talwar. Now we'll attack in parties. So-"

"HOLD IT!" a voice from the back of the stands yelled. Everyone turned to see an orange-headed player. He then jumped down onto the stage. "Before we go I want to say something. My name is Kibaou. Beta Testers, I know there is at least one of you in the crowd. You need to get down here, apologize, and then compensate. Because you left us, 2000 of us are now dead. You took all the easy quests and good hunting grounds. Now come on?" As he talked, I saw Kirito's hands shaking. I sighed and got up and walked down to the stage.

"Kibaou, may I ask you a question," I said before moving without waiting for an answer, "Was it the duty of the 1000 Beta Testers to hold your hands? Maybe some of them did help others. I know one who did help me. Also, the booklet you have was compiled through the data that the Beta Testers got. So there shouldn't be a problem anymore, _right?_" Kibaou just sneered and then sat down on the bleachers in the front. I walked back up to Kirito.

"No problem, partner," I said as I bumped fists with him.

"Okay," said Diabel, "form your own parties and then we'll give you your assignments." I noticed a girl sitting not too far from us.

"Kirito, let's party with that girl over there. She looks lonely," I said to Kirito.

"K." We walked over and asked if we could party up with her.

"Sure," the hooded girl whispered. We sent her a message, and partied with her. We got assigned to squad E. We would be responsible for taking out the Sentinels and making sure that they didn't attack squads A-C. We also were told that we would attack tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.

|Town of Beginnings: August 9th 2023: 7:00 p.m.|

"May we sit with you," I asked the hooded girl from before. The girl didn't respond but nodded. We sat down. Kirito took out some bread and cream, and offered the cream to the girl. I however, took out some ramen that I had bought at the inn nearby.

"Must you eat that stuff? I swear, you're like my sister. You only eat one kind of food every single day," said Kirito as he looked at me in disgust.

"Oi! I don't judge you on your food choices, so don't judge me on my food choices. Besides, eating bread and cream everyday isn't much healthier," I relied before turning to the hooded girl.

"Uh, what kind of weapon do you use?" I asked.

"Does it matter?" she asked back.

"No, not really, just curious. That's all."

"I use a rapier. You?" she replied.

"Both Kirito and I use a one handed sword, without a shield. We value speed above all else. You and Kirito can continue to talk. I am going to go practice and see if I can't level up before we go to the boss tomorrow." I then left the two to themselves and walked into the forest.

"Tracking, on. 5 targets. There are two targets to northeast, one to west, one to the east, and one to the south. Moving in on targets in the northeast," I intoned with my eyes closed.

I drew my sword from its scabbard on my back. I then raced through the forest and found the two targets were bears, although they were demonic looking bears. I jumped into the trees and then jumped onto them, swinging my sword at the first bears head, decapitating it. I dodged the other bears claw swipe and stabbed the bear in the heart. But I had to let go and jump back because the bear swiped his claw at me. It would also be about a minute before he dies from my sword being in his chest. I reached into my pouch and grabbed 4 shruiken, two per hand. I then disappeared into the trees. I threw two of the shruiken at its brain, and the other two into its mouth. The bear died, and I went up to level 8.

"Hm. I'll increase my one-handed sword skill and my parry skill. This way, I'll have a better chance at killing that beast tomorrow." I continued hunting in the forest until 1:00 a.m. the next morning. By then I had made it to level 10. I then went to get some sleep until 8.

|Town of Beginnings: August 10th, 2023: 8:00 a.m.|

"Wonder what's taking Kibaou so long," I said as the entire squad waited for Kibaou before we opened the boss doors. After about 5 minutes, Kibaou arrived, giving some crappy excuse about going to the bathroom and getting lost on the road of life. Seriously? Did he have to take that from Naruto?

"Alright everyone!" Diabel yelled as he stood in front of the doors. "Today is the day we fight for our freedom. Today is the day we start our journey through the next floors. Failure is not an option. For freedom!" Diabel and his squad then pushed through the doors. The rest of us followed. Illfang sat on a throne, but when he saw us, he jumped off and attacked with his axe and buckler. His sentinels were also using axes. I jumped at the axe out of the way before yelling, "Switch!" Our hooded partner, whom I saw was named Asuna from her hp gauge, attacked the sentinel with the sword skill, linear. This knocked back the sentinel. Kirito then followed up with a upwards slash sword skill across the stomach. I finished it with a stab to the head in between the eyes. It took about an hour for the hp gauges to be lowered down to the final hp gauge. We all went to attack it, but Diabel went in headfirst. Kirito, however, yelled at the last minute, "DIABEL, get back!" The blade hit Diabel, but it wasn't a Talwar, like the info suggested. It was a Nodachi.

"Diabel," yelled Kirito as he rushed to him. Asuna and I followed. "Why Diabel?" Kirito asked.

"You were a beta-tester. You know why," said Diabel as Kirito grabbed some potion to use on Diabel. "The bonus drop," said Kirito as he opened the potion. But Diabel stopped him.

"No, Kirito. Use it on someone who needs it more than I," said Diabel before he died. Kirito then screamed in rage before attacking Illfang. Asuna and I went to back him up. Together, we violently hacked away at his body. However, when Asuna was about to be hit, Kirito yelled, "ASUNA!" This caused her to hesitate, saving her life as only her cloak was destroyed. She then used the sword skill, linear to attack Illfang. However, she was also knocked into Kirito. Illfang was about to kill them when it was blocked.

"Get ready. We'll hold him for you," one of the axe users, who was name Agil. He and his party attacked Illfang until they were thrown back.

"Asuna, Gabriel, we'll do it like we did with the sentinels. Let's go," yelled Kirito as he ran at the beast. Asuna and I followed. Kirito and I used an upward slash sword skill while Asuna used a linear sword skill, which defeated and destroyed Illfang, the Kobold Lord.

"YEAH!" cheered all the surviving members of the attack party. We were all celebrating until Kibaou yelled, "WHY?" Everyone turned to face him and he said, "Why didn't you save Diabel? You shouted when Illfang drew his new weapon. You knew. Why didn't you save him?" All of a sudden the remaining people started shouting at Kirito as they too had heard him shout. "Beta-Tester!" This was shouted over and over again. Asuna, Agil, and I tried to defend him, but Kirito then just started to laugh.

"Beta-Tester? Don't lump me with those losers. They were mostly newbies who didn't even know how to level up. I beat the boss because I advanced higher than any other beta-tester. I have fought monsters with much higher katana skills. I know more than any other information broker."

"What! You're not a beta tester. You're a cheater. You're much worse," said the crowd. They yelled things like cheater. But then, one person yelled, "You're a beater."

"Beater," said Kirito quieting the crowd, "I like it." He then equipped one of the two special drops that his party received, Midnight cloak. "I **am **a beater." HE then walked towards the portal.

"Tch," I said as Kirito walked away, making him stop. "If you're a beater, then I'm a White Dragon," I said as I equipped the Cloak of the dragon Hatchling. We both then walked to the doors to the next level.

"Wait!" Asuna yelled. We turned around before she started talking. "How did you know my name?"

Kirito responded by saying, "IS there another gauge near yours? There should be a name on the other gauges," he said before going to his main menu.

"Oh, it was there the whole time," said Asuna while laughing and rubbing the back of her head. Then both Asuna and I got the message that Kirito had disbanded the party.

"Asuna," said Kirito, "If anyone you trust asks to make a party with you, take them up on it."

"But what about you?" asked Asuna.

"I'll be good. Besides, I have Gabriel to help me," replied Kirito before both of use walked through the door.

**A/N**

**Done. Well, I've got through the next chapter. All in one day. It's been awesome. Anyways, tell me what you think about it. Hope you like it.**

**~Sorry for changing it again, realized that I had the year wrong 2024 instead of 2023~**


	3. Rescue of the Black Cats of the FullMoon

Ch. 3- Rescue of the Black Cats of the Full Moon

|Floor 15: May 5th, 2023 7:00 p.m.|

My name is Gabriel Rian, and I just turned 14 two days ago. Kirito and I have been traveling through the floors, fighting on the front lines. We had become some of the most renowned clearers in the lead group. We had just finished clearing floor 28. Oh, and we had progressed to level 40, well Kirito had. I had progressed to level 42. Take that Kirito! My speed and sword skills had also increased exponentially. We had decided to take a break from it and went to do some casual hunting on floor 15. While there, we saved a guild called the Black Cats of the Full Moon. And now we are at inn…

"CHEERS!" yelled the standing members of the guild members that we had saved earlier that afternoon while raising their wine glasses.

"Uh, cheers?" I asked while raising my glass as I was standing as well.

"Yes. You and Kirito-san saved our bacon today," replied the guild leader, Keita. "You see, our lancer, Sachi, is trying to switch to sword and shield. She's just having a hard time."

"It's okay Sachi," said Kirito, "You'll get used to it. I remember Gabriel had a lot of trouble getting used to using only one sword."

"Oi!" I yelled with a tick mark on my forehead. The members of the guild started cracking up at my reaction.

"Ne, Kirito, Gabriel, I know this is rude, but what level are you guys?" I was about to say level 40 when Kirito answered, "I am level 20 and Gabriel is level 22. Although, I am more experienced in using sword. I always win in our duels."

"Is that so? Well, I know this is a little abrupt, but can you join our guild and maybe help Sachi get used to using a sword and a shield?" I looked at Kirito with a look that said 'I'm in, but we are so having a talk later.' Kirito nodded back at me before turning around.

"We're in. We'll join your guild. We'll also help in Sachi's training."

"YAY!" the other members of the guild yelled.

|May 5th 2023: 10:00 p.m. Floor 28: Wolf Plains|

"What were you thinking?" I yelled as I attacked Kirito in a duel. "Why did you lie to them? Because you are a beater? Because we are front liners? You think you will always be able to protect them, but you can't. Your arrogance will get them killed. When we get back you are going to tell them the truth about our levels! I will not be the cause for someone's death."

"What do mean I am being arrogant? What if they never accept us? Besides, with our levels we **can** protect them and teach Sachi!" Kirito yelled back.

"What do I mean?" I yelled. "I am talking about you thinking that you'll always be able to protect them. You can't. You may be good, but you can't protect everyone. And so what if they don't accept us? Why does that matter? They would accept us for saving the life of Sachi!" I yelled before scoring a hit on Kirito's chest.

"Fine, you win," replied Kirito before stalking off to the teleportation site. "I'll tell them, but then we are leaving. Got it?"

"No."

"What?" asked Kirito, whipping around to look at me. "What do you mean no?"

"We will stay and help Sachi reach level 25. That is only two levels. Then we leave. That is if they accept us. Agreed?"

"Fine," said Kirito before walking off to the teleportation site. I sighed and went to the hunting grounds to hunt some pups. While hunting I met up with Klein.

"Hey Klein!" I yelled running past him, and stealing his kill.

"Gabriel! That was my kill!" he yelled.

"I know. That's why I killed it. It's the best way to make an entrance. How are you," I said with a sly smile.

"Entrance my foot. Where is Kirito? And is that symbol…?" asked Klein trailing off.

"Yep. We joined a guild. As for where Kirito is, he's probably sulking because I bruised his ego. Told him he was being an arrogant ass and that he wouldn't be able to protect everyone in the guild because they are 20 levels below us. I told him we're going to tell them, and if they still want us, we'll help train their swordswoman to fight. Oh and I beat him in a duel."

"What? You finally beat him?"

"No, not really. He wasn't at his best, so it isn't really a win. I want to crush him when he's at his best."

"Oh. I guess you calling him arrogant really took some out of him. So are you going to hunt or just talk?"

"I'm going hunting. I'll see you at the boss battle. Ja Ne." I then went to go hunt some more of these pups. In the end I got 35 kills, boosting me up to level 44. The pups weren't even a challenge. Even the pup pack leader was too easy. God, I hate it when it's too easy. Maybe I should go into the dungeon tomorrow night. I should lend my help to clearing the dungeons even if I am part of a guild.

|May 5th, 2023: 7:00 a.m.|

"Good Morning," said the guild when we came down to eat breakfast.

"Good Morning. Keita," I said, getting his attention, "Kirito has something he wishes to share with the guild.

"Oh? What is it Kirito?"

"I lied yesterday when I told you our levels. We aren't level 20 and 22. We are level 40 and 42."

"Actually, I am level 44," I said. The rest of the guild had a gob smacked look on their face.

"How are you solo players, yet that high of a level?" Keita asked.

"We aren't just any solo players," responded Kirito.

"I am the White Dragon. I am known for my godly speed."

"And I am who they call Beater. That is who we are. One of the best front liners."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" asked Keita.

"I wanted to," I replied, "But I needed to talk to Kirito about lying to you guys. I had every intention of telling you our true level, but then Kirito just spoke without consulting me. I'm sorry. I'll understand if you don't want to have us in our guild."

"Nah. I am miffed that you guys lied to us, but you did save our bacon. And I guess Kirito was afraid to tell us because he's the legendary Beater and you are the legendary White Dragon. You can stay as long as you still help Sachi."

"Yeah," I said nervously, "about that. We're only going to stay until Sachi gets to level 25. Then we're heading off to the front lines again. I'm sorry, but this is the way we help with freeing ourselves from this world."

"It's okay. And you're always welcome here."

"Well, we have a while until then, so let's go start Sachi's training!" The entire guild yelled in cheers. For the next few weeks we would go through the different dungeons from levels 10-15 and help Sachi develop her fighting skills.

By June the Black Cats of the Full Moon had come along nicely. Now, they were one of the best guilds in the lower levels. They could easily take on a level 20 floor. All of them, even Sachi, were at least level 30. They had also bought a nice house on floor 1, in the Town of Beginnings. Kirito had progressed to level 62. I had progressed to level 64. I was slowly becoming better than him. But I was able to beat him once during the month of October. That was a good night. Right now, we are taking on the quest to kill the special boss, Nicholas the Renegade. It's going to be a hard fight, but Kirito and I are among the best. We will beat him.

|December 24, 2023: 11:00 p.m.|

"So, you are sure he'll appear," I asked a hooded stranger who was passing by the bench I was sitting on.

"Of course," the hooded stranger responded, "When have I ever been wrong?"

"Level 1 boss."

"Tch. But yes I am positive. He'll appear at midnight tonight. If you want the drop item, you have to be there at midnight. Here's the corridor crystal," the hooded stranger said while giving me the crystal.

"Thanks, Argo. And here's your payment of 25000 col," I said dropping a bag of coins into the newly named Argo's hand. I then walked into the forest where Kirito was waiting for me.

"So? Was the information correct?"

"Yes. We move out tonight. We need to be there by midnight and not a minute later. Otherwise we have to wait an entire year to get a chance at him. Let's go. Let's get this revival item," I said. I held up the crystal and yelled, "Corridor, open!" A distortion in space appeared in front of us. We looked at each other and nodded. We raced through. On the other side of the portal, we appeared a few miles from the huge tree that the special boss is supposed to appear in front of.

"Well, what are we supposed to do for an hour?" I asked.

"Wait, go through our battle skills, use up your extra points to upgrade your skills. You are supposed to do things like that. So when were you going to tell me about your dragonic skill?"

"What are you talking about Kirito?" I said with fear in my voice. 'How the hell did he find out?'

"Sure you don't. It's when you grow some wings from you back…"

"How did you find out," I asked with a sharp tone of voice.

"I saw you when you went off to train by yourself a month ago," Kirito replies, "I only saw you when you were using your wings. I don't know what other abilities you have or how you got them." I sighed and considered my options before answering Kirito.

"I got this ability when I defeated that young frost dragon on level 25. The other two dragons I have to defeat in order to gain full dragonic powers are on level 50 and 75. The level 25 dragon gave me the ability of flight, increased strength and agility, as well as a resistance to the cold." Kirito looked at me suspiciously.

"Then how come you're wearing a thick coat to ward off the cold," he asked.

"So no one gets suspicious. Now that we have that out of the way, this is getting so _boring_. It's ben 30 minutes and I am still bored," I said. Suddenly Klein and his guild appeared.

"Oh, Kirito, Gabriel, is that you? What are you here for?"

"The same as you, the revival item," replied Kirito, "and no one is going to beat us to it."

"Listen, Gabriel, Kirito, why don't you join up with us and we'll take on the boss. Whoever gets the drop keeps it. That way it is fair. What do you think?"

"I think you're crazy Klein. Suggesting that after you lead the Holy Dragon Alliance here," I said as the Holy Dragon Alliance teleported in.

"Kirito," I said as I drew my sword, "GO! I can take care of these losers. The may be the Holy Dragon Alliance, but they can't defeat the White Dragon. Hyah!" I yelled as I rushed in with my sword, _Fang of the Youngling_. I went for the leader clashing swords with him. I have to admit that he's skilled, but no match for me.

|December 25th 2023, 12:50 a.m.|

I sat against a tree as I watched Klein and his guild rest. That was a hard battle for them. All the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance were probably around level 50 or something. Otherwise they wouldn't have given Klein such a hared time. He's around level 45. As I looked at the sky the only thing I was thinking was Merry Christmas, Maya, Kiran, Mom, Dad, Rach, Priya, Uncle Mon, Aunty Manu, Shalini, Kareena, Uncle Uni, Aunty Swathi, Muthi, Muthacha, and the rest of my aunts, uncles, relatives, and friends.

"What are you thinking about," came Kirito's voice from behind me.

"My family and friends," I replied, "I'm wondering how they are taking this. I hope they are still celebrating Christmas without me. I hope that they don't worry about me, even though I know they will. So did you get the item?"

"Of course I did. What do you take me for?"

"Just checking. What are the parameters?" I asked.

"It needs to be used within 10 seconds of the death. Otherwise it is useless. We are giving it to Keita, right?"

"Yeah. Then we are leaving the guild and going to the front line. It's time we started clearing the dungeons again."

|January 5th 2024: 3:00 p.m. Floor 1: Town of Beginnings|

"Well Keita, it's time for us to take our leave. We are going to the front line. We're also leaving the guild. As our gift for having use, you can have this item," said Kirito as he handed the revival item.

"Thanks Kirito, Gabriel. I can't thank you enough. Without you, this guild wouldn't be where it is. And Sachi wouldn't have gotten over her fear of battle. Goodbye."

"It was no problem. Goodbye Keita, Sachi, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Ducker. Good luck. See you some time later," I said before pressing the 'leave the guild' option. Both Kirito and I walked to the teleportation platform.

"Teleport: Wolf Plains!"

**A/N**

**Well there you have it. Chapter 3 is done. Next chapter will follow episode 4 of the anime as well, but I will have a deviation. I am also have Silica be age 14, birthday on March 31****st****.**


	4. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Ch. 4 Decisions, decisions, decisions

|February 23, 2024: Floor 35: Lost Forest 6:00 p.m.|

It's been 2 months since we left the Black Cats of the Full Moon. We've already gotten through to floor 55 in these past two months. It's been amazing. Right now I am level 80 and Kirito is level 78. I also defeated the Frost Dragon on level 50, but apparently there is another on level 55, although it is as strong as the one on level 75. I should probably wait until I am in the high 80s before attempting to defeat it. I now wear its hide as my trench cloak. I recreated it myself. It's called _Hide of the Frost_. I also gained the ability to develop dragon scale-like skin for added protection, and better hearing (even though my hearing was pretty good already) and to have some kind of control over ice. I can create dragons of ice now. Right now I was on my own. Kirito was fighting in the dungeons with Klein and his guild. I was on my own wandering the forest aimlessly when I heard a scream. I saw a beautiful young girl screaming and about to be killed by three Drunken Apes. I couldn't just let that happen. I used my sword skill _Vorpal Strike_. All three of the Drunken Apes were destroyed.

"Miss," I said as I approached the crying girl. 'She's about my age,' I thought.

"Thank you for saving me," she said when she saw me.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save your friend. If I had gotten here sooner, I would have been able to save her."

"No, it's my fault. I thought I could get through this forest on my own, but Pina…"

"Oh. You are a beast tamer?" I asked. The girl nodded. I looked at her hands and saw an item. "Miss, does that feather have an item name," I asked as I kneeled down beside her. The girl touched the item and the words, _Pina's Heart _appeared. She then broke down into tears.

"Pina, I'm so sorry," the girl whispered. I was feeling bad for the girl when I remembered, the Hill of Memories!

"Ne, miss, what is your name?"

"Oh, Silica. Why?"

"Well, Silica, there is a chance that you'll be able to revive your friend, Pina. On floor 45, there is a flower that blooms. It will allow you to bring a familiar back to life-," I said getting a smile out of Silica.

"Thank you Mister. I know I won't be able to get there now, but I will work hard and someday I will make it there."

"But, it must be within three days," I said with my hair covering my eyes. This killed the girl's hope.

"I'm sorry Pina. I'm so sorry." I sighed before pulling up my menu and grabbed some items before sending them to Silica. When the window opened on her menu she looked at me confused.

"I will help you Silica. Pina **will** come back. I promise you. Besides, I can't let a beautiful woman like you cry. It makes my heart ache. The items I gave you should boost you to about level 44." She stood up and came up to my shoulder.

"Thank you, but why are you doing this…uh what's your name again?"

"Oh. My name is Gabriel. I'll tell you if you promise not to laugh," I said.

"I promise." I put my hand on my face before saying, "You remind me of my cousin. The way you act." Silica looked at me, before bursting into laughter, and then stopping.

"Sorry," she said. I sighed and then motioned for us to leave to go to the town. "I look forward to working with you," I said as we walked. Silica just blushed.

|February 23, 2024 Floor 35: Mishe 7:00 p.m.|

We arrived in the town Mishe. As we walked, a pair of men yelled, "Silica!" We stopped and the two men started to talk to Silica. "Silica, party with us! We'll go wherever you want to go." Silica got nervous, but when she saw my arm, she latched onto it.

"I'm sorry guys, but right now, I'm partying with Gabriel. Sorry, maybe next time." We walked away but I could feel them glaring at me as I walked.

"Are they fans of yours? Are you really that popular?" I asked as we walked.

"No," replied Silica, "they just want me as a mascot. I got arrogant when the started calling me _Dragon Tamer Silica_." I could tell she was sad, so I stopped and gave her a one armed hug.

"Don't worry, Silica. We will get there in time, I promise." Silica nodded and smiled.

"Yes." We were walking towards the inn when we ran into the group. I narrowed my eyes because my target, Rosalia was part of the group. 'So she will be trying to get Silica. Rosalia of the Titan's Hand.'

"Oh," said Rosalia when she saw Silica, "Silica where is your pet lizard? Could it be that…?" I was going to step in for Silica because I saw her shaking before she replied, "Yes, Pina died. But I am going to revive her!"

"Oh, you're going to the Hill of Memories? On floor 47? Are you sure you can manage that?" replied Rosalia. I then decided to step in.

"She will be able to. Besides, it's not that hard. Let's go Silica," I said before grabbing her hand and walking off. As were walking away from Rosalia, Silica commented, "Ugh, why does she have to be so mean?" I sighed as we walked into the inn. "Ne, Gabriel, where do you live?"

"Me? I live on floor 50. But I think I'll stay here for tonight. Want to get something to eat?" We were at the inn restaurant, so I decided to ask Silica something.

"Ne, Silica, is this your first MMO?" I asked. She nodded. "It's also my first one as well. But, my partner is a huge MMO player. He explained to me that in MMO games, people's personalities change. Also, there are three different types of players. We have green cursors, right?" Silica nodded. "We are green players that follow the rules. Orange players are players that willingly commit crimes. And then, there are the worst of criminals, the red players. They are players the kill other players. In other words, they are murderers." Silica's eyes widened.

"Murderers?"

"Yes. In any other game, it would be okay. But in here, if we die, we are dead for good. This game isn't a game, it's a prison," I said as my hands shook like leaves in a storm.

"It's okay," said Silica as she placed her hands on mine. "You are a good person. We will get out of this game eventually."

"Sorry. It seems like you cheered me up instead," I said with a smile. Silica immediately blushed and sat back down before yelling, "Cheesecake!"

|February 23, 2024 Floor 35: Mishe 8:00 p.m.|

Silica was in her room getting ready to go to bed when I knocked on her door.

"Hey Silica," I said, "Can I come in. There's something that we need to discuss about our trip tomorrow. I heard a muffled, "Okay. I'm coming." She was about to open the door when she stopped for some reason and paused. Then she opened the door. I walked in towards the table. I set down a device that expanded to become a map of floor 47.

"Okay, here's the town area-," I said before stopping abruptly.

"What's wrong Gabriel?" asked Silica before I shushed her. I then ran outside and yelled, "Who's there?" There was no answer but I saw someone running downstairs.

"How did you know that there was someone there? You can't tell unless someone knocks."

"Usually, you would be right, but it would be different if your hearing skill is high enough. But not many invest in it."

"Why do they want to listen on us?"

"They probably heard that we were going to the hill of memories and eavesdropped so that they could steal the flower. But don't worry; I won't let them take it from you. Pina **will **be revived, Silica."

|February 24, 2024 Floor 47: Floria 9:00 a.m.|

Silica and I teleported Floor 47: Floria. Silica marveled at all the flowers and knelt down next to some of them. But when She saw that this floor had a lot of couples, I think her face turned red, though I am not sure why.

"You ready to go Silica?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

"Wait, Silica, I wont' you to have this crystal. If anything goes wrong, I want you to use this crystal to teleport away from danger," I said. As we were walking, a flower monster appeared and grabbed Silica.

"AHH! Gabriel, help me, but don't look," she said as she swung the one handed dagger to cut the vines holding her, and the used the sword skill _Linear _to stab the monster in the head, killing it. When she landed she looked at me and said, "You didn't see anything right?"

"No. I didn't." As we walked, Silica asked about my cousin. But as we walked some monsters attacked as well.

"Gabriel, I know this is rude, but could you tell me about her?"

"Huh, what brought this on?"

"Well you said I act like her, so I would like to know about her if that's okay with you."

"Oh. Well her name is Zoey. She lives in South Africa. And she's my favorite younger relative. I kind of treat her like a good brother would treat their sister, except I don't treat my **own** sister like that. So I sometimes wonder if I'm a bad person for not treating my own sister as well as I treat my cousin." Silica was going to answer but two Giant Venus Fly Traps appeared. I drew my sword and hit them both, before motioning for Silica to attack them. She destroyed both of them. Soon we were plowing through the monsters. I would weaken all the monsters for Silica so that she could gain some exp. Points. After a few hours of walking, the screen, 'Congratulations. Lv. Up Silica 44 = 45,' appeared.

"Good job Silica, I knew you could do it," I said with a smile, which for some reason made Silica blush. Some time later, we made it to the location of the Flower of revival, the Pneuma Flower.

"Thank you, Gabriel."

"It's not over yet. We still need to go back. I don't think we should revive Pina here, do you. Let's revive her at the inn. I'm sure Pina would like that."

"Yeah," replied Silica with a nod. But when we got to a bridge, I could detect at least 6-8 people in the trees. I stopped Silica and yelled, "Come out where I can see you. I know you're in there." Silica was confused until Rosalia stepped out from behind the trees.

"Rosalia. What are you doing here?"

"It appears you are quite good. You have to be to see through my hiding skills," said Rosalia before looking at Silica. "It seems you have gotten the Pneuma Flower. Great Job. Now hand it over."

"Why? You don't need it."

"That won't happen Rosalia. Or should I call you leader of the Titan's Hand, an infamous orange guild?"

"But Gabriel, she's green."

"It's a simple but effective strategy. The greens lure the targets to the rest of the guild. That was one your guild members last night, wasn't it?" I said.

"Then you've been in our party because-" said Silica before trailing off.

"Yeah. I was assessing its strength and letting them collect money. But you were the one I was after, Silica. But then you left and I was sad. But when I heard you were getting a rare item. But Swordsman, you know all this and went with her? Are you an idiot? Did she drug you or something?"

"No. Silica would never do that. She's too kind. Besides I've been looking for you Rosalia.

"Why would you want to look for me?" asked Rosalia confused.

"Ten days ago, you attacked a guild called Silver Flags. Four people, excluding the leader died."

"Oh. Those were the ones without money," said Rosalia.

"The leader warped to the front lines and begged someone to avenge them. But he didn't want you killed. He wanted you jailed. Can you imagine what he felt?"

"No, I can't. But what idiot would take this seriously. I mean, there's no proof that when someone dies, they get killed in the real world. Besides, you should be more concerned with yourself," said Rosalia before snapping her fingers. Seven orange players stepped out from behind the trees.

"Gabriel! We need to run. There's too many," said Silica with worry in her voice. I turned around to face and hugged her. "Don't worry. I'll be all right. Just stay put, have your crystal out, and watch. Okay?" I said as I walked away.

"Okay. Gabriel do your best!" yelled Silica. The orange players stiffened when they heard my name.

"White cloak, white one-handed sword and no shield," whispered one of the orange players. "There's no doubt about it, this is the White Dragon."

"Rosalia," said one of the orange players, "this it the White Dragon who solos the front line with the legendary Beater. He's in the lead group."

"The lead group?" asked a surprised Silica.

"What are you talking about," asked Rosalia, "Someone from the lead group wouldn't be down here. Now get him, and take everything that he owns." The orange players nodded and ran at him and attacking him. Silica looked on as he got attacked. She was going to try and help, when she saw that his life gauge kept replenishing itself.

"400 points in 10 seconds. Pitiful. I am level 80. I have 15,250 hp. My battle healing skill regenerates 1000 points every 10 seconds. We could stand here all day and you wouldn't be able to make my hp gauge go orange."

"That's not possible," said a surprised orange player from behind me. I turned to look at him and said, "It is possible," surprising him, "MMO's use an unfair leveling system that way." I then held up a tall warp crystal. "My client spent his entire fortune on buying this crystal. It's set to take you to the prison. All of you are going there." I looked at Rosalia who got into a defensive potion before she said, "I'm a green, so if you attack me then you'll go orange. I disappeared before reappearing in front of Rosalia with my sword on her neck.

"Let's be clear about this. I'm a solo player. One or two days of playing orange means nothing to me." Rosalia dropped here weapon then and there.

|Later at the Inn on Floor 35: Mishe|

"I'm sorry Silica. I hoped I didn't offend you by using you as bait."

"I thought that you would just look at me in awe if I told you who I was. I don't really like the attention."

"So are you leaving now?" asked Silica.

"I should, but I don't want to. You see, I kind of like partying with you. But, I also have a duty to clear the front lines. Hmm. What to do?" I said with my hand on my chin. "I know," I yelled. "Okay, Silica, every Saturday and Tuesday, will you party with me?" I asked. Silica looked surprised at this request before saying, "Yes, Gabriel I would love to." I left as Silica revived Pina.

**A/N**

**Whew, two chapters in two days. I'm good. Longest chapter so far in the story. So yeah, Gabriel is going to be with Silica. Tell me how I'm doing. I'll see you guys later. Don't think I'll include the murder case. I'll make up something to replace it. **

**Ja Ne**

**~Airwatcher**


	5. Partying with Silica

Ch. 5 Partying with Silica

|March 6th 2024 Floor 50: Algade 1:00 p.m.|

So yeah…I'm going into the dungeons with Silica. I'm not on the front lines because one, it's Tuesday, and because my partner is out on a 'date' with Asuna from the Knights of Blood. Right now, we are on floor 65. I'm also thinking of trying to take on the Frost Dragon on level 55 sometime soon. It should be a walk in the park. Right now, I am level 87. No one has found the boss room yet. I also had this brilliant idea for helping Silica get stronger. She could join the KoB. That's a great idea! I know right? Unfortunately, I don't think she would agree. I guess I'll just train her by myself. Ahh! Silica is about to get hit and she just fell back from that last hit.

"_Final Thrust!_" I yelled as I hit the monster, destroying it. "Are you okay, Silica?" I asked as I offered my hand.

"Fine. That last one just surprised me, that's all," Silica replied as she grabbed my hand and I pulled her up.

"Really?" I asked her with smirk, "It looked like it was just faster than you. That's all. Are you sure that you were surprised?"

"Fine. You win. It was too fast for me. But I am getting better!"

"Of course you are. After all you are my girlfriend," I teased. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Silica and I started seeing each other a few months ago. We still live in different houses, but now we are living on the same floor, Floor 22. We live in a forest, but there is also a lake if you look from the balcony of my house.

"Gabriel, stop teasing. It's not funny," said Silica with a pout. "Pina, can you use your bubble attack on him?" Silica asked the dragon on her shoulder. Pina nodded and flew at me.

"Ahh! I'm sorry Silica, just stop Pina," I yelled as I ran with Pina shoot bubbles at me, which would explode upon impact. "Isn't this a little too much, Silica?"

"No, it's just right. Besides you have a regenerating hp, it won't hurt you that much," said Silica.

"Yeah, but it hurts like hell. Remember when Pina hit me in my _special area_? I was bed ridden for two whole weeks. So please call Pina off!"

"Fine, Pina, please stop." Pina stopped shooting bubbles, and went to sit on Silica's head. I also just collapsed where I was.

"Tha…nk you. Now, me is very tired. Sleep when I get back home."

"Uh, aren't you forgetting something, Gabriel?" asked Silica as she looked at me.

"Uh, dinner?"

"Yes, now let's go to dinner. Teleport: Marten," said Silica while holding onto my hand and holding up a warp crystal.

"Now let's go have some dinner," she said. I sighed and followed her into the restaurant. When we walked in, a lot of people pointed at us.

"That's the White Dragon. But who's the chick in red? I wonder if she's his partner on the front lines?" As we walked in I saw Asuna and Kirito, so I dragged Silica over to say hello.

"Yo! How's your date going?" I asked Kirito. Everyone in the restaurant gasped.

"Gabriel! We aren't on a date!" yelled both Asuna and Kirito.

"Yeah. That's why there's no one but you two at this table. So mind if my girlfriend sits with us. Oh and you're paying the bill Kirito."

"What? SO you're mooching off of me?"

"Isn't it custom for the teacher to pay for the student, Master?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes but…" stuttered Kirito.

"And wasn't it you who taught me how to use a sword and move swiftly during combat?" I asked.

"Yes," Kirito grumbled. "Guess I am paying for both you and your girlfriend."

"Yep," I said with a smile. "Thank you Kirito. Alright Silica, we can pig out tonight!" I yelled. Silica nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Kirito. I hope we don't put too much of a dent into your savings."

"Thanks a lot Gabriel. I'll be sure to remember this when we go out to drink with Klein. Next time, you're taking Klein home."

"Okay, as long as I get my food." The four of us talked about random crap, before Kirito asked me, "So Gabriel, when are you going to face the Frost Dragon?" Crap. I haven't told Silica about that yet.

"Gabriel, what is he talking about?" Silica asked.

"Yes, Gabriel, I too would like to know," said Asuna as she leaned forward.

"Er…I need to defeat the dragon on floor 55 to increase my Unique Skill, _Dragonic Limit Break_," I replied. 'Thank God they don't know I have to defeat the dragon on level 58 or 75 as well. Otherwise Silica wouldn't let me onto the front lines ever again.'

"What! You have a unique skill?" asked Asuna.

"Yeah. None of the bosses so far have needed me to use them. But I have a feeling we are going to need them soon," I said. However when I saw Asuna and Silica glaring at me, I said, "Fine. Asuna, Silica, Kirito, meet me on floor 22 tomorrow. Let's say 1:00 p.m. I will show you my fighting abilities at the maximum, without holding back at all. I will fight both Kirito and Asuna. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes. That is acceptable. But, you aren't off the hook yet, Gabriel," said Silica. "You didn't tell me. Is there another skill that you've kept hidden from us?" she said while putting her face in front of my face.

"Er… how about I tell you tomorrow?"

"Fine. Let's go," said Silica pulling me up. I sighed and walked with her to the teleport platform and said, "Teleport: Floor 22!" As soon as we got there, I walked with Silica to her house. As we were walking, Silica asked, "Gabriel, why didn't you tell me about taking on the dragon to acquire more skill?"

"I didn't want to worry you," I replied, "I already worry you when I fight on front lines and go fight the bosses. So, I was worried that if I told you, you wouldn't want me to go."

"I would let you go," replied Silica as she stared into my eyes.

"Well then would this be a good time to tell you there's two other dragons I need to defeat other than the one on level 55?"

"No it wouldn't. What levels are they on?"

"58 and 75. But the one on 55 is optional. Ne, Silica, how about I use one of my Unique Skills to get us to your house?"

"Uh, sure?" she replied/asked. I picked her up in my arms, bridal style, before leaning forward with my weight on my left foot. I pushed off with my left foot while yelling, "Light Step!" I disappeared in a flash of yellow light. I reappeared after flashing 5 times in front of Silica's house.

"What was that?" asked Silica as I put her down on her feet.

"That, Silica, was my other unique skill, Light Step. With it, I can move at close to the speed of light. That is why my speed skill is 100% mastered. No one can touch me when I use this skill. Good Night," I said as I saw Silica walk into her house. I used my Light Step to get to my house. I then went to bed.

|March 7th 2024 Floor 22 1:00 p.m.|

Both Silica and I were waiting at the warp point. I was just about to send a message to Kirito, when I received a message from Kirito.

'Gabriel, Asuna and I won't be coming today. Somehow someone has found a way to PK in a safe zone. We are investigating. Meet up next week same time, same place. Get back to you if we can meet sooner.

-Kirito'

"Well, Silica," I said as I looked up from Kirito's message, "it looks like it is just you and me right now. Anything specific you want to do?"

"Yes! I want to practice my cooking skill. I just got it up to 845. Also, Asuna gave me a list of combinations for sauces. I want to see if I can replicate the sauces. Go catch some fish so that we can have some lunch."

"Ok, but don't expect anything great. I only have a skill level of 800. Your house for cooking, or mine?"

"Yours. It has better equipment. See you soon Gabriel."

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I gave her a kiss on the cheek causing her to blush brightly. "Just don't blow up the equipment like you did at your house. Do you know how much it cost to replace all that cooking equipment?"

"No. And I won't blow it up this time. I only had a 200 in cooking skill at the time. It'll be different this time," said an embarrassed Silica.

"Hopefully, it'll be a good change," I said as I walked to the lake. I also put away my battle clothes, and put on a grey t-shirt, and khaki shorts. I also changed into sandals and equipped a fishing rod. 'Well, here goes nothing. I hope I can catch at least one decent fish. Eventually I was able to catch two big fish, three small fish, and one super big fish. But it took four hours. Four _freaking _hours to catch 6 fish! That is why I hate fishing. I may be decent at it, but it is the most boring thing to do.

"Silica, I'm home!" I yelled as I walked into my house. Luckily, none of the utilities had been damaged.

"Hi, Gabriel. Did you catch any fish?"

"Yep. I got six fish. I think we should cook one of the big fish. Hopefully, it'll be really good. So what are you going to make?" I said as I gave her the fish.

"Hm. Let's make a soup. Here's a recipe for a salmon Potato soup. How about it?"

"Sure. Do you need me to go buy some potatoes Silica?"

"No. You already have some. Though you'll have to buy more after I am done making the soup. Now out of the kitchen. Go read the newspaper or something. Just out of the kitchen." I had just sat down, when Kirito sent me another message.

'Hey Gabriel. Found out that there was no PK in safe area. It was just the objects destroyed, and the player would teleport out of it immediately before the object was destroyed. Apparently, the wife of a player, orchestrated all of this. From his wife's death, to the supposed PK in a safe area. He's now in custody. We'll come over tomorrow at the same time we discussed yesterday.

-Kirito.'

"Hey, Silica?" I yelled.

"Yes?"

"Is there enough for four people?" I asked.

"No, but if you give me another fish of the same size, I can make it for four people," she replied. I nodded and went through my main menu and started a message to Kirito.

'Hey Kirito. How about you and Asuna come over for dinner. If you say no, I'll come and force you to come eat at my house.' I then went to the kitchen and gave Silica the other big fish. As I walked out, another message from Kirito appeared.

'Sure. Asuna and I will be there in five minutes. See you then.' I sat down and started to read the newspaper. A few minutes later, I could hear someone knocking on the door. I opened the door to see Kirito and Asuna, dressed in casual wear.

"Hey. Asuna, was it your idea to change into casual clothes?" I asked.

"Yep. Otherwise he would have come here dressed like he's going to the front lines."

"Thank god. Otherwise I would have gotten a yelling. Oh, and Asuna, since you're good at cooking, why don't you go see if Silica wants any help. I am useless in the kitchen. Only reason I have one is because Silica comes over to cook."

"Okay. See you later Kirito."

"So how was all the _alone _time with Asuna, Kirito?" Kirito turned red and spluttered.

"Er…how was time with Silica alone?"

"Great. I showed her one of my two unique skills. She was very surprised. So let's go to the table. I think dinner is ready now," I said as I grinned mischievously. As I walked to the dinner table, I saw Silica and Asuna laughing like crazy.

"Uh, Silica, why are you two laughing?" I asked fearfully. Silica grinned and showed the picture she took of me when I was sleeping with my head hanging off the bed holding the pillow, and my hands in the peace sign.

"Oh great. You just had to show Kirito's future wife that," I said while I looked at Asuna and Kirito who started spluttering excuses. "Now let's go eat. I am very hungry. Is there anything else I need to grab?" I asked Silica, seeing that the stew was on the table already.

"Yeah. Could you go grab some spring and summer rolls from the kitchen? Also don't forget the sweet and sour pork. Thank you." I smiled and grabbed the two dishes and set it down on the table. I grabbed a seat next to Silica. "Chow time. I served myself some stew and pork and started eating. As we were eating, Asuna said, "So what did you guys do today?"

"I went fishing for four hours and Silica cooked for four hours. Do you know how hard it is to fish here?"

"No not really. But did you show Silica one of the unique skills?" asked Asuna.

"You can ask her yourself. So how was it Silica?"

"It was amazing. HE was able to go at what seemed to be the speed of light. It was called Light Step. Basically Gabriel disappears in a flash of yellow (A) and appears wherever he wants. But apparently it is limited to the floor he is on."

"How come she knows before us?" asked Asuna.

"You guys weren't here today. Not my fault. I could show you after dinner. I'll show you my draconic abilities and my light step.

"Let's go now!" said Asuna. I shrugged and said okay. We all walked to the nearby lake. I went through my skills window. Draconic Abilities: Active State! Suddenly I grew scaly skin, wings and elongated claws. My hair also had three silver streaks going through it. There was one streak on the left and right, as well as one streak going through the middle.

"Draconic Abilities: Ice Breath!" I yelled spewing what looked like white fire. However, when it touched the lake, the water started freezing. "There," I said turning to look at the audience of three people, "That is what my draconic abilities are. Draconic Abilities: Passive State!" The changes that I went through after I went into the active state receded. "Now, time for the light step. Uh, Kirito, go to the other side of the lake."

"What?"

"That way someone can prove I 'flashed' over."

"Fine. I'll go." It took 5 minutes before Kirito messaged me telling me that he was there. I then flashed over towards Kirito and back.

"So how was it?" I asked.

"Awesome. So any reason you don't show anyone?"

"I wanted it to be a secret. So you will not tell anyone, right?" I said glaring at all three of them.

"Yep," all three of them chirped.

"Well then, good night. I am going to go to bed. See you later on the front lines Asuna, Kirito." I walked Silica to her house before walking to mine and falling asleep.

**A/N**

**(A) looks like how minato races forwards in Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.**

**I guess this chapter was kind of rushed. Anyways, Next will come a story from the frontlines. Gabriel and Klein, with his guild, will go through level 74 before the meet up with Kirito and Asuna. Ja Ne.**


	6. Partying with Klein and the Fuurinkazan

Ch. 6- Partying with Klein and the Fuurinkazan Guild

|October 15th 2024 1:00 p.m. Floor 74|

It has been about five months since I showed Silica, Asuna, and Kirito my unique skills. I also just turned 14. Apparently, Silica also turned 14 in March. Oh yeah, Silica and I are now living together. We are "married" in the game. Though we view each other as girlfriend and boyfriend, albeit very close to each other for being boyfriend and girlfriend. I am now level 94. Silica is now level 67. I am really happy that she has gotten this far. Pina now has one more attack. In addition to being able to heal and shoot _really_ dangerous bubbles, she can now shoot explosive ice balls. Asuna and Kirito have also gotten closer. Oh, while we are on the subject of Kirito, I just found out that he also has unique skill. His is dual wield. I think that's why he went to Lizzie, Asuna's and my personal blacksmith. She created a real strong sword for him. It is called Dark Repulsor. It looks cool, but my sword, which I got from defeating the level 55 dragon, Ice Lotus. It looked a lot like the sword I started off with. My spare sword, the Dragonic Fang, kind of looks like Kirito's sword, the Dark Repulsor, except its all white and light blue. Right now I am partying with Klein and his guild, the Fuurinkazan.

"Haa!" yelled Dale as he attacked a monster (A) with his two handed sword using the sword skill, Avalanche.

"Great Job, Dale," yelled Klein as shot past while slashing at another Lizardman Lord with his Katana. I leaped over Klein, throwing a shruiken right through the neck, killing the Lizardman.

"Thanks for distracting him Klein. Let's move on," I said with a gracious smile.

"Tch. Yeah, but you totally stole my kill. Besides what happened to that big one that you were dealing with?"

"Oh that one just had a little more HP than all the others. So are you ready to keep on going, or do I need to wait for your sorry ass to get back up?" I asked with a smirk.

"Oh just shut up. Let's go," grumbled Klein with a scowl on his face. All of us continued on going through the winding path of the dungeon. All in all, it was a very troublesome dungeon.

"Klein, look out!" I yelled when I saw a Lizardman Lord step out from the shadows to attack Klein. I rushed at it using the skill, _Sonic Leap. _I stabbed the monster right in the chest.

"Klein, take it out now!"

"Roger," replied Klein with a nod and jumped into the air before swinging his blade down onto the head of the Lizardman Lord. He then turned to look at me strangely.

"What are you looking at?"

"How were you able to sense that Lizardman Lord, but none of us could? Our tracking skills may not be the best, but we are no slouches when it comes to tracking hidden monsters?

"Uh, my tracking skill might be a little higher than yours. Have you mastered it?"

"Of course not. Have you?"

"Yeah. I've also mastered one handed blade, parry, battle healing, and acrobatics."

"Grr. I've mastered one handed curved blade and katana. Everything else is between the low 600's and the low 900's. Now let's keep on going so that you don't make me feel useless," said Klein. As we made out way through the dungeon, Klein and I had a little contest. Who could kill the most monsters today while we were in the dungeon? Soon enough, we had each accumulated 25 kills each. That was, until we reached the monster house area. Dozens and dozens of Lizardman Lords appeared around us.

"Perfect timing, don you think, Klein?" I asked with the side of my face facing Klein.

"Aye. It is good timing that we walked into this monster house. Now, one of us will be able to pull ahead in the race. And that person is going to be ME!" said Klein as he dashed forwards at one of the Lizardman Lords. I grinned and rushed at the monsters.

"No way Klein. I am not losing to you. Not in a million years. How would I be able to face Silica if she learned that I lost to you of all people?" I asked as I killed 5 Lizardman Lords.

"What is that supposed to mean Gabriel? What do you mean by 'you of all people'?"

"Uh, well Silica isn't exactly a fan of yours after you called her pipsqueak. Besides, if I beat you again, I can tally this as your 50th loss in a row. Also, Silica will treat me to dinner once I beat you 50 times in a row. So yeah. Oh and I have killed 10 more Lizardman Lords, giving me a grand total of 35. You?"

"Damn you. I only got a grand total of 30. I'll catch up to you," yelled Klein as he sliced and diced some more of the Lizardman.

"Leader!" yelled Fuurinkazan guild as the rushed to Klein when they saw a new Lizardman Lord appear from the shadows and go to attack Klein from behind.

"Not to worry boys," I said as I killed the somewhat patient and stealthy Lizardman Lord.

"Damn, Gabriel, you are as bad as Kirito. You both love taking other peoples kills. I would have been able to kill that monster. So bloody mean and unfair."

"Yeah, well, you know what they say. Life isn't fair. Personally, I like to think of life as one big roller coaster. Anyways, what is your total kills number? I am up to 57.

"Will you stop making me feel so inferior to you?" yelled Klein as he killed another monster. "I am only at 52."

"Hey," I said while stabbing my sword into the head of the Lizardman Lord, "If I don't do it to you, then who will? After all you don't usually party with Kirito."

"Man, you guys can be so mean," replied Klein while cutting a Lizardman Lord in half at its waist.

"That stings Klein," I said, fake crying, while stabbing through another Lizardman Lord, "How am I so mean? I am never mean."

"Whatever, and you can stop with the tears. I know they aren't real," said Klein with a sigh.

"Okay," I said brightly, making Klein do a face plant. I saw a monster coming at Klein, so I threw another of my shruiken, killing the monster. "That makes it 59," I said with a smile.

"Man, you're so unpredictable. Let's go," said Klein, as I had killed the last monster from the monster house.

"If I'm unpredictable, then that means I'm more likely to survive in battle," I replied with a smirk. "Anyways, I think it's time to go back home for some sleep. I'll make it so that we can get back here with a crystal," I said before taking out a tall crystal. I held it up before saying, "Corridor Entry, Mark!" The slightly visible barrier revealed itself. "Yosh! Now we can come back here tomorrow. See you guys later," I said before holding up my normal teleport crystal and yelling, "Teleport: Hill of Memories!"

|October 15th 2024: 5:00 p.m. Level 47: Hill of Memories|

I appeared in the hill of memories. I grabbed some blue, yellow, and red flowers and put them together in a vase.

|October 15th 2024: 5:20 p.m. Level 22|

I walked home in my normal clothes: a pale blue t-shirt, a pair of green shorts, and a pair of tennis shoes.

"Good Evening Silica," I said as I walked into the house. I saw silica cooking some fish that I had caught last night.

"Hello Gabriel, how are you?"

"I'm fine. I beat Klein today again. But I have something for you."

"Really?" Silica turned around, and I presented her the flowers that I had picked at the hill of memories plaza.

"I picked these from the hill of memories where we revived Pina. Remember that, Pina?" I said while looking at the dragon that was resting near the oven.

"Thank you Gabriel. That was very kind of you," said Silica as she put the flowers, that were already in a vase, on the table in the family room. "So, ready for dinner?"

"Yeah, I just need to go wash my hands. I'll be back in a second." I then went upstairs to the bathroom that we shared to wash my hands. I then went downstairs and sat down at the table before saying, "Alright, what's for dinner?"

"Well, I prepared fish sticks and mayonnaise. I need to thank Asuna for giving me the recipes for the sauces. Well, dig in." As we were eating, we each talked about our day.

"So what did you do today?"

"I explored the dungeon on level 50: Algade with Sachi from the Black Cats of the Full Moon. Apparently, she still looks up to you and Kirito. She asked that you and Kirito visit her sometime."

"Hmm. I'll pass along the message. So what else is there? Come on, I know you. There's something else you want to tell me."

"I leveled up to level 70. Also, Pina can now fire ice streams for up to 10 seconds. It is amazing!"

"Good job, Silica," I said before looking at Pina and saying, "Good work Pina. You've done well." Pina crowed in happiness and flew around the kitchen table.

"So how was partying with Klein?" asked Silica.

"Meh, it was the same. Beat him in killing monsters. Explore the dungeon. Nothing too major. Though I did get some Lizardman lord meat and scales. Do you want to try cooking the meat tomorrow?"

"Ick. Nope. We are not eating it. I don't care if you cook it, you won't be eating it and neither will I. Understood?" asked Silica.

"Yes ma'am. No Lizardman Lord meat. Anyways, I got a record high of 60 monster kills today. It made me so happy. That was all I did today. Though I did go have a drink and a meal with Kirito this afternoon for lunch. He was going to solo the front lines today. I didn't see him. Hmm… I wonder what he is doing right now." I then decided to tease my teacher. I started a message, and started typing.

'Hey Kirito.

How's it going? So what are you having for dinner? And how is Asuna doing? Hope to see you tomorrow.

From your hysterically humorous student,

Gabriel'

"That'll make him happy," I said to Silica, before I saw a message.

'I had ragout rabbit at Asuna's house. Damn it Gabriel, stop teasing me.' I sighed contently before looking back at the message. "WHAT?"

"What is it Gabriel?"

"That bastard got a ragout rabbit and decides not to share with us! After all the hospitality we have given them. Grr. I'll show him tomorrow. Oh well. I think I'm going to go think about how to get back at him. Let's got bed. I'll clean up," I said when I saw Silica getting ready to clear the dishes. Silica nodded and thanked me before sitting back down. Later that night, while we were in bed, Silica started cuddling with me, which was weird because she's never done that before. What the hell is going on?

**A/N**

**I got this name from Sword Art Online Wiki. This was one of the names listed as part of the, Fuurinkazan, guild**

**So yeah, I decide not to have them enter the point where Kirito and Asuna are eating, but I think that might come in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own SAO

**Before chapter author's note:**

**I just want to clear up the ages of some of the characters**

**Age 15- Silica and Gabriel**

**Age 16- Kirito**

**Age 17- Asuna**

**Age 24- Klein**

Ch. 7- Unveiling the secrets of the Beater and the White Dragon

|October 16th 2024 8:00 a.m. Floor 74|

It's only been about a day since I met up with Klein to go into the dungeon on Level 74. This morning I got to tease Kirito about partying up with Asuna and having dinner with her. He unfortunately didn't take it that well and dumped some a barrel of water on me. Stupid Kirito. I can't even tease my own teacher. Oh well, right now, I'm going to party up with Klein and the Fuurinkazan guild. I then teleported to floor 74.

"Gabriel!" yelled Klein as he and the rest of his guild jogged over to the warp platform.

"Yoh! What's up Klein?" I asked.

"Nothing. We were just waiting for you to show up so we can go to the dungeon. Do you have the warp crystal?"

"Of course. Who do you take me for, you?" I asked while at the same time insulting Klein.

"Hardy har. This one's a joker. Just activate the freaking crystal," grumbled Klein.

"Aye, aye sir," I yelled with a salute. I then walked up to the corridor warp point. I held up the crystal above my head, and yelled, "Corridor…open!" A distortion in space appeared in front of us and we stepped through. We came out where we were yesterday.

"Okay, Klein, let's see who's the winner today," I said.

"Yeah, the loser has to buy everyone in the party drinks. And the drinks will be on you," said Klein with a grin.

"Are you sure? I can really drink a lot. So get ready to say goodbye to your wallet. Let's go," I said with a smug smirk. Klein just grumbled good-naturedly. We then started walking through the dungeon until we came upon a group of Lizardman Lord monsters.

"Bet I can get at least 10 of the 20 that are there before you," I said.

"Yeah right," replied Klein with a cocky smirk. "There's no way that you'll beat me for the 51st time in a row."

"Well let's stop trash talking. We'll let our actions speak for themselves. Have at thee!" I yelled referencing the comics Thor. I charged at the monsters, my sword dragging along behind me. I started beheading monsters, and throwing shruiken like a madman. In the end I was able to take out 9, Klein was able to take out 7, and each of the other members took out 1 each.

"Man, I was so close to achieving that goal," I said as I snapped my fingers while we walked along the path.

"Yeah, but I just needed the kills that the rest of my guild got and I would have beaten you. Oh well, the competition still rages on. All right, let's keep on going. There's no time for rest. Oh and we need to find the boss room before Kirito," yelled Klein.

"Why?" I asked confused.

"Leader made a bet with Kirito that if he beats Kirito to the boss room, then Kirito will have to give him his drops from the next boss," said the **[]**

"And if Kirito wins?" I asked as we ran.

"Well, if Kirito wins, which he won't, Klein has to give 500,000 col to Kirito, plus one item from the drops that he gets off of the boss from this level," said **[]**, another one of Klein's guild members.

"Well then, I hope we hurry, because Kirito is probably in the dungeon right now searching for the boss room. I wouldn't put it past him to have already found the room," I said with a look of pity towards Klein.

"What! What do you mean he is in the dungeon right now?" asked Klein, before we ran into some monsters.

"Well," I said before stabbing my sword into a monster, "Kirito told me this morning that," I continued while ducking a Lizardman Lord's sword swipe, "He would be in the dungeon," I finished before I used an unarmed skill to punch right through the monster's chest, destroying it.

"What, yesterday morning, he said he probably was going to take it easy and just explore the are of Level 74 and not go into the dungeon."

"Well, whatever he said to you before, you should discard because he did go into the dungeon. I checked his apartment and found a not saying that he was exploring dungeons, so he is exploring dungeons."

"That's not fair, I though that we had two days to find the boss room before Kirito. This means we have to step up our game. Everyone lets go! No resting," yelled Klein when he saw the rest of his guild sit down to rest.

"Yes Leader!" yelled the rest of the Fuurinkazan guild. We started running at full pace through the dungeon, so that we could find the boss room before Kirito. Although I can sympathize with Klein, I kind of want Kirito to win. It'll be very interesting to see Klein lose to Kirito. We continued on ploughing through the dungeon so that we could find the Boss room before Kirito.

"Hey Klein," I said as we were running.

"Yes, Gabriel," Klein replied.

"How much do you want to bet that Kirito will have found the boss room by the next time we see him? I bet 10,000 col that he will."

"Well, then, I bet 10,000 col that we will find it first," said Klein with a confident smirk. At around 11:00, we ran into a huge monster group.

"Can you beat me this time Klein? I'll even give you a 1 minute head start," I said.

"Tch. I'll beat you and Kirito. Now let's see who can get the most kills from this monster group," yelled Klein as he charged at the monsters with his katana drawn.

"60, 59, 58…1, 0," I said as I counted before rushing into battle with my sword drawn. In one slash I killed five monsters. I then threw some of the shruiken that I kept in my pouch, which killed nine more of the monsters. Now I had a grand total of fourteen monsters. A huge Lizardman Lord then appeared along with some normal sized Lizardman Lord monsters and some drunken apes, but much more powerful than the ones on level 35. It wasn't much longer until we finished up here. Right now it should be about 1:00 p.m.

"So Klein," I said as we walked, "how many did you kill?"

"13, beat that Gabriel!" yelled Klein with glee.

"Okay, I killed 14 monsters. You have been beaten."

"Damn it!" yelled Klein. Before we knew it, we passed through a corridor warp. Once passing through it, I saw a huge chance to tease my favorite target: Kirito.

"Yoh, Kirito, how's the date?" I yelled when I saw Kirito. Kirito and Asuna looked up and saw Klein, the guild Fuurinkazan, and myself.

"Gabriel… you just had to tease me, didn't you," deadpanned Kirito.

"YEP! So, was Asuna's sandwich good?" I asked with grin.

"Gabriel, I didn't even eat her sandwich," said Kirito with a scowl on his face.

"Then why are your gloves off?" I asked with a disbelieving look on my face.

"…Shut up. Besides what is Klein and his guild doing here? And how is he still alive?" asked Kirito.

"Oi! I'm right here you know," yelled Klein before he saw Asuna.

"Oh, right you guys probably know each other from the front lines, but I should probably introduce you guys," said Kirito. He pointed to Asuna and said, "Klein this is Asuna, and Asuna, this is Klein," finished Kirito as he pointed at Klein. When he saw Klein not responding he waved his hand in front of Klein's face and said, "OI! Knucklehead, are you in there?" Klein's body straightened like an arrow and offered out his hand and said, "I am Klein, age 24 and single-" before being punched in the stomach and flying backwards. I laughed in the background. Suddenly, the entire guild surrounded Kirito and Asuna. Kirito readied their sword before they started swooning at Asuna.

"Asuna!" "I've been waiting to finally meet you Asuna!" These were some of the things that they yelled. Asuna, meanwhile blushed a bright red and looked confused. Kirito tried to hold them back while saying, "They aren't always like this, even though their leader looks like a criminal." Klein then stepped on Kirito's foot extremely hard making Kirito yelp in pain.

"What was that for?" asked Kirito.

"Payback, mister," replied Klein with a grin. Asuna then started giggling like a crazed girl. Klein heard this and turned his back to face Kirito and asked, "Kirito, what the hell is going on?"

"Nice to meet you," interrupted Asuna, "Kirito and I are just partying up for a little bit. Also, Gabriel knew about this."

"Oi, Asuna, why did you have to bring me into this?" I asked from the sides.

"Because it is fun," replied Asuna with a smile.

"Kirito, Gabriel, explain," said Klein as the rest of the guild gasped. Kirito was backing up waving his hand in front of himself when I heard other players approaching.

"Kirito, Asuna, Klein, stop arguing," I said causing them to look at me. "There are players coming and they look like they're from the Army." Sure enough, a medium-sized party approached our party.

"What is that guild doing here," wondered Klein,

"Ever since the 25th floor boss, that guild has been more focused on strengthening their organization rather than fighting on the front lines," explained Asuna. When the party reached us, the one with a red cape, who is obviously the leader, called for a rest. The entire dropped like bags of flour. The leader then marched up to us before saying, "Aincrad Liberation Force. That is my guild. I am Lt. Col. Cobaltz."

"Kirito. Soloer," responded Kirito.

"So am I," I said with a silly grin and my arm on Kirito's shoulder. "My name is Gabriel."

"Have you explored any further?" asked Cobaltz.

"Yes," replied Kirito, "We have mapped up all the way to the boss room."

"Well then, I would like to have the data," said Cobaltz as he extended his arm out.

"What? Do you know how freaking difficult it is to map out a dungeon? And you want it for free?" yelled Klein.

"We **must **divide information and resources equally. This is all in an effort to free ourselves from Aincrad. You need to cooperate with us!" shouted Cobaltz.

"Oh really," said Klein and Asuna as they reached for their weapons.

"**STOP!**"I yelled. Everyone looked at me. "Give them the information, Kirito." Kirito gave the information to Cobaltz. Cobaltz and his army thanked Kirito and then left.

"Wait, Cobaltz," said Kirito. Cobaltz turned around to look at Kirito. "Don't try to take on the boss right now. It's foolish." Cobaltz just looked at Kirito for a moment.

"That is for me to decide," he said before leaving walking towards his party.

"Wait, the boss isn't one of the bosses that you can beat with so few men. And your men are exhausted. Wait some time for them to gain their energy before taking on the boss," pleaded Kirito.

"My men are strong. They won't die from a matter so small as this." The Army then left in the direction of the boss room.

"Gabriel, why did you say that?" asked Klein with anger.

"Kirito," I said directing my question at him, "you were going to release the data as soon as you got back to town, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"There was no point in keeping the information from them if Kirito was just going to release the information when he got back to town. Oh and Klein, I won our bet, pay up."

"What, now?" he asked.

"No, when we get back to town. I want that 10,000 col," I said with a smirk. Klein was about to retort when he was interrupted by Kirito.

"Let's go make sure that they didn't try and take on the boss." The rest of the Fuurinkazan guild left. Only Klein, Asuna, and I were left. When Asuna started to leave, Klein and I stopped her.

"Asuna," I said, "Could you do me a favor? Could you look after my master? He's not good with words and is a crazy fighter, but cares for everyone and wants to end this game to save everyone, even if it means losing his life. So could you make sure that he doesn't do that?"

"I was going to say the same thing," said Klein.

"Of course, I will," said Asuna before all three of us left.

"Of course you would, Asuna. After all you two are dating," I teased before running to Kirito leaving an embarrassed Asuna. All of us started fighting our way to the boss room. However, once we killed the last monster before the boss room, Klein asked if they had gone home using an item. It was then we heard a scream from the boss room.

"Asuna, Gabriel, come on," yelled Kirito, "Klein, you take care of these small fry and then come and join us." The three of us then ran to the boss room. What we saw when we got there was horrifying. The zanbato wielding minotaur-like creature, had backed all of the Army guild members into a corner.

"Use your crystals," yelled Asuna as she stood there terrified for the fates of the players in the boss room.

"We can't," said one of the players, "They don't work in here." All of our eyes widened. Cobaltz then made his way to the front and pointed his sword at the beast and said, "Aincrad Liberation Force will never suffer the shame of retreat. ATTACK!" Klein then came up to us.

"What is going on in there?" he asked.

"Crystals don't work," I said in a horrified voice, "If we attack, it, that might draw the creature's attention, but other than that I don't know what to do." The monster than reared back its head before breathing a purple flame like breath, knocking back many of the Army guild. It also used a sword skill to knock Cobaltz toward us. I rushed to him, while taking out a potion. I was about to give it to him, when he whispered, "This can't happen," and then he died.

"AAAHHH!" yelled one of the other Army guild members. The boss monster was about to kill him when Asuna rushed in and attacked with the sword skill, Star Splash to distract the monster. However, while she was in mid air, the monster punched Asuna sending her flying back. It was about to kill her with its sword, when Kirito intervened, redirecting the sword, about 5 feet to the side of where it would have been.

"Fall back!" yelled Kirito. HE then fought it while Klein, the Fuurinkazan guild, and I evacuated the fallen Army members. After re-entering the room, I saw Kirito pondering something. The monster was about to kill him, so I used my Light Step to reappear in front of him and block the sword.

"KIRITO! Stop thinking and just do it. We have to use the unique skill that we are blessed with. We need to show them why we are the White Dragon and the Beater, the best tag-team in the game." Kirito smiled and nodded. "Alright, buy me some time. Show them why you are the white dragon." Kirito then leapt back. I then leaped at the monster while swinging my sword. From my sword, a serpentine dragon appeared and attacked the monster, freezing it's legs. I jumped above it, landed on it's shoulders and froze both arms, before jumping off.

"You ready Kirito?" I asked before the monster broke free of the icy restraints I had created.

"Yep. Dual Wield is a go. Let's go. We haven't done this in a while. We should do this more often." Kirito, blocked a strike from the minotaur creature. I jumped over him and slashed at the monster while in midair, sending multiple ice arcs at the creature, causing immense damage.

"Kirito, back up. I'm going to use one of my unique moves," I yelled. Kirito nodded and jumped back. "Ice Dragon: Overload Strike," I whispered. Pale-blue flames danced along my blade. I rushed at the monster. I dodged the incoming attack by spinning to the side and the leaping up right in it's chest, causing ice to grow from the outwards, encasing the monster in ice. I then smashed the ice, killing the monster. I sheathed my sword and yelled, "YOSH! It is over. We beat the boss!" Everyone stood amazed before Klein and Asuna snapped out of their daze. Asuna rushed towards Kirito to hug him, while Klein walked over to us to ask some questions.

"Sweet. Gabriel, Kirito, what was that just now?"

"Extra Skill: Dual Wield."

"Extra Skill: Ice Draconic Abilities."

"How do you activate them," asked Klein.

"I'll go first, Kirito," I said. "For the Ice Draconic Abilities, you have to slay all the Frost Dragons. Each kill will give you a different ability. There was one on floor 1, 25, 50, and 58. There is also one on floor 75. But, if you don't start with the level one dragon, it doesn't work. You only get the drops and the experience, but no abilities. There might be other kinds of dragons, but I only ran into one fire dragon on floor 70 and that's it."

"Whoa. And you Kirito?"

"For me, it just appeared in my skill screen six months ago."

"Oh, but why didn't you tell anyone sooner?" asked Klein.

"Well then everyone would be hounding me on how to activate it when even I don't know myself." Klein nodded to himself since that made a lot of sense. "Gamers are an envious group. Well, just keep on training is the best thing to do, I guess."

"Klein," I said, getting his attention, "How many did we lose?"

"Three if you include Cobaltz."

"Damn. We haven't lost a single person since floor 67."

"Gabriel! How can you call this a fight? What good are you if you are dead? I swear, you and Kirito are so much alike," said Klein.

"Well, he is my master. Let's go activate the portal to floor 75. We need to hurry up since it's almost 5:00 p.m. and I need to get back in time for dinner. That fight was long, even though it didn't seem like it." Klein nodded and we headed to the doors. I looked at Kirito who had fallen over when Asuna hugged him. "You coming or are you going to let Asuna continue to hug you?"

"You go. See you tomorrow at Agil's?"

"Yeah. Lizabeth will probably be out for blood now that we showed our secret. See ya then."

|October 16th 5:00 p.m. Floor 22|

I had already taken off my fighting equipment and put back on my relaxation clothes when I entered the house.

"Silica, I'm home!" I yelled as I walked into the house.

"Gabriel!" yelled Silica as she rushed at me and enveloped me in a hug. "I was so worried when I heard that you and Kirito fought the boss monster all by yourself."

"Huh? How did you already hear about it?" I asked. Silica held up the evening edition of the newspaper.

"This. It was released just fifteen minutes ago. When I saw this I was so worried. Tell me if when you're going to face a boss," whispered Silica as she hugged me closer.

"Alright, but this time I didn't have a choice. If I hadn't helped then I would have 15 deaths on my consciousness. There were 15 people that Kirito and I saved."

"I know that sometimes you have to do a spur of the moment thing, but try to let me know. Please?" asked Silica with that cute face she uses to make me do something I'm not going to want to do.

"Of course. I will do it whenever I can. For you. Now let's go have dinner. I bought some to-go food. Unless you already made something?"

"No, I just got home 15 minutes ago and I was freaking out when I saw that you fought the Boss Monster. So what did you get?"

"Well for you, I got some udon. I got myself some ramen." We sat down and started eating. During dinner, Silica and I talked about our day, although Silica knew what big thing happened during my day. After that, I took Silica out for a walk around the lake that I usually catch fish from. At about 9:00 p.m., we went to bed. I wrapped my arms around her as she lay on my chest before I fell asleep.


	8. Days Off

Ch 8- Days Off

|October 18th 2024: Floor 55|

It's been two days since Kirito and I unveiled our unique skills. I had spent all day yesterday with Silica because I had been neglecting spending time with her. Today I had taken her into the dungeons on level 63. We had some fun in there. Unfortunately for me, I lost a bet and had to give her a back massage. But I don't really mind. After all, I do love her. I wouldn't know what to do without her. But while I was fishing this afternoon, I got a message from Kirito telling me to come to the Knights of Blood Oath headquarters. So I went home with the fish that I had already caught, gave them to Silica and told her where I was going.

"Hey Kirito," I said after I got to the KoB headquarters. "What's with the new getup? Did you finally join another guild?"

"Yeah," replied Kirito. My eyes widened in shock.

"I was just joking. You really joined another one?"

"Yeah, I told you I joined another guild."

"I thought you said you wouldn't join another guild because of what almost happened to the Black Cats of the Full Moon."

"That's what I thought, but I lost a bet against Heathcliff. I made a bet that if I could beat him, then I could take Asuna with me. But if I lost, I would join the Knights of Blood Oath. Obviously, I lost. Thought something is bothering me about the fight," replied Kirito.

"What is it?" I asked intrigued.

"Well, at the end of the fight, I had out maneuvered him, and was about to strike the finishing attack, when suddenly Heathcliff's speed drastically increased. It didn't feel natural. I am sure that he was going at full speed the entire time we fought, so that isn't natural."

"I guess. Maybe. I have a theory, but it's impossible to prove unless I see Heathcliff in battle, which I might get to see when we fight the level 75 boss."

"Yeah whatever. So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, first I'm going to leave so that the person outside, who based on her smell, is Asuna, and then go spend some quality time with Silica. So I'll be seeing you." I walked out the door, and smiled at the blushing Asuna. "You still have a ways to go before you can sneak up on me without me noticing. But good try." I laughed and walked out of the building to the teleportation area. "Teleport: Floor 75!" I disappeared in orb of blue light, before reappearing on the newest floor that had been unlocked.

"Hey Klein," I said when I saw Klein at a bar. "You still owe me 10,000 col and a round of drinks."

"Damnit Gabriel," said Klein when he noticed me, "Couldn't you forget about that?"

"Like hell I will. That's a lot of money, which I could use to buy food for Silica. You don't know how much my wife eats. I may love her, but buying take-out food for her is expensive. I just don't have that money. Lately, we've only been eating fish, ramen, and udon. Though I did find an interesting meat this afternoon when I ventured into the dungeon here.

"Oh yeah? What was it?"

"Ragout Rabbit. I found another one. Silica is cooking it right now. She told me I could invite you and Agil. So are you coming over?"

"Of course I am. There's no way in hell that I'd miss out on Silica's cooking. Your wife is a good cook you know that, right?" asked Klein.

"Of course I do. But that does that mean you don't want any of the cheesecake that I baked earlier this afternoon?"

"No! It's just that Silica's cooking is much more awesome than your cooking, but your baking is better than her baking. Get it?"

"Yeah. But do you really want to tell that to her face?" Klein freaked out when he thought of Silica when she was mad.

"Yeah, you're right; I don't want to do that," replied Klein, suppressing a shudder that wanted to run up his back.

"Good. Waiter," I shouted, "One round of sake over here!" The NPC waitress nodded before going to grab some sake.

"Gabriel," whispered Klein, "What are you doing? If Silica finds out you were drinking, she'll kill you and me for letting you." I just smile and waved him off.

"Don't worry. Besides, Silica said I could drink today. But only today." Klein's shoulders sagged in relief. "But she might still get mad at you," I said afterwards.

"What? That is so unfair."

"Well, I'm not going to argue with Silica, but you can. Although I wouldn't suggest that, since you are getting Ragout Rabbit stew tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, I won't argue with your wife," grumbled Klein. Soon, I was drinking from a bottle of Sake.

|That Night Floor 22|

Silica and I were busy in the kitchen finishing up the final touches to the meal. We were having Ragout Rabbit Stew, using Asuna's recipe, and a side of mashed potatoes and fries. For dessert, we were having my specialty, Pumpkin Cheesecake and a mango milkshake, using the mangos that I had grown in our backyard.

"Gabriel," said Silica from beside me, "are you sure you don't want to invite Asuna and Kirito over? They would have fun."

"Normally, I would. But I have a feeling we'll be seeing them down here in the near future."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe that they are getting together soon. Add in the fact that Kirito just joined the KoB and that he is staying at Asuna's tonight, I think that it is very likely."

"Okay," replied Silica. "The stew is finished. Could you take the stew and set it on the table? And tell Agil no eating it until all the sides are out as well." I cracked a smile at my wife's comment.

"Yes ma'am," I saluted her, before grabbing the stew pot and taking out to set it down on the table. Agil reached to take the top off, before I hit his hand. "No. No eating until the sides are out and Silica washes up. Now sit," I said with a disapproving tone, but a smirk that was totally opposite of my tone.

"Yes, Gabriel. I understand," replied Agil with a smirk showing that he understood what was going on.

"Alright," said Silica from behind me, "Let's get ready to eat." Silica and I sat down on one side of the table, while Agil and Klein sat down on the other side of the table. "Agil, you may take the first helping." Agil grinned and began pouring himself a scrumptious amount of stew before passing it to Klein, who did the same thing. When it was my turn, I first served Silica a portion, and then served myself a little more. I then served myself the mashed potatoes and fries, and then started to eat.

"So," said Agil as he ate the rabbit, "Where did you find this rabbit?"

"I found the rabbit in the level 75 dungeon. I think that something must be wrong with the level if I can find a ragout rabbit in a rocky area."

"No kidding," said Klein. "I don't think I've ever seen a ragout Rabbit in person. And all the reported sightings are always in the grassy areas." The four of us continued to talk about different things such as what we were going to do when we get out of this god-forsaken game to how we train and level up. After Klein and Agil left and I got up and started to do the dishes with Silica.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Silica had been very quiet during dinner.

"Nothing," she replied hesitantly.

"Please, don't lie. Silica, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong. There's something bothering you. What's wrong?"

"I'm just wondering, when we leave this game, are you just going to forget about the love we have now? Is this just for the game, or is it real?" asked the downtrodden Silica. I sighed and stopped what I was doing and grabbed Silica in a hug.

"Silica, I'll never forget you. When we get out of this game, and we will get out of this game, I will find you. That I promise you." I kissed her on her forehead. "Come on let's go to bed. You're tired and need your rest."

"But I have to take care of the dishes," protested Silica as I carried her upstairs.

"Sorry, Silica, but as your husband, I have to make sure that you are well taken care of, understood?" Silica just sighed and nodded. "Now go get ready for bed and go to sleep. I'll finish up cleaning downstairs. Okay?" Silica just walked over to the bathroom and got ready for bed while I went downstairs to clean up the dishes from dinner. While I was doing this, I got a message from Kirito.

'Hey Gabriel,

This is Kirito as you can guess. I'm messaging you to see if there are any good houses that are already built near you or anywhere on floor 22 with a good view. If you could refer me to them, that would be great.

Thanks,

Kirito'

'Kirito,

There is onne good house. Teleport here now, and I'll show it to you. Otherwise I can show you it tomorrow.

From,

Gabriel'

'Gabriel,

I'll see you tomorrow.

-Kirito'

I smiled and then walked up to get into bed. My master had finally worked up the courage to ask Asuna. They had been dancing around it for the past 5 months. Even Agil could see that. I got into bed a hugged Silica who put her head on my chest.

"Night, Silica. Love you." I then fell fast asleep, not aware that I had caused Silica to start blushing when she heard those words.

|10:00 a.m. October 19th 2024 Floor 22|

"Hey Kirito," I said as I stepped out of the shadows near the teleportation point. "Oh, hey Asuna. I hear you two are a couple now."

"You told him?" asked an outraged Asuna.

"I did not tell him. I haven't told anyone," replied an indignant 've been dancing around it for at least five months,. Now let's go, I'll show you the house." The three of us walked a few miles before we came to us that overlooked the lake. As it turned out, it was also one of the properties I had bought when we had first got access to the level. I had about five properties in total. Two here on level 22, one on level 55, and two on level 50. All of them except for this one were being rented out by other players.

"Here, this is the property that you can have," I said.

"So, who do we have to pay?" asked Asuna. "Where is the NPC that owns it?"

"Actually, consider this my gift to you. I own this, so you can have it. If you say no, I'll bash your head. Now, I'll be going," I said as I walked away. For the next two days, I trained with Kirito for a little bit, as he was busy with Asuna most of the time. But at the same time I also took Silica to dinner to make her feel more loved than ever. In addition, I was able to raise my dragonic abilities tenfold. My control over ice has increased so much that sometimes it scared me to be on the receiving end of it. Of course, the only one who could probably stand a chance against me now is Heathcliff and Kirito, the other two unique skill wielders.

"Pina, dragonbreath!" yelled Silica s she charged at me with her short sword, sliding under the ice dragon that I had shot her way.

"Ice Tundra!" I yelled, pushing out my powers through my blade into the ground around me, causing Silica to slip. I also jumped to dodge the blast of fire that Pina shot at me.

"Slip Stream," I whispered before disappearing into a burst of light and stabbing at Pina repeatedly, but always making it so that it mad it miss Pina by a hair so that her agility would increase.

"Pina, combo one, go!" yelled Silica as she jumped in the air and started firing shruiken like there was no tomorrow. I was forced to dodge every single of them, some of them came really close to hitting me in my vital organs, and my head.

"Hey, hey, watch where you're throwing those things," I shouted as I dodged a shruiken, and then used my slip stream to get right in front of Silica, knocking her back using the butt of my sword hilt.

"Ah!" screamed Silica as she stumbled back, but then slipped and fell on the ice. I just smiled fondly and walked over to her to give her a hand getting up.

"You've really improved," I said. "You've really come a long way from where you were when I met you. I think that's enough practice. Now how about we go get something to eat?" Silica nodded excitedly. We went to Zane's Diner, our favorite restaurant. As the name suggests, the diner is owned by an NPC, named Zane, who is a really good friend of ours, even if he is an NPC.

"Hey, Zane," I said as we walked in.

"Silica, Gabriel, how are you guys doing?"

"Well, you know the usual. Exploring the dungeons, eating, training, sleeping, having fun. You?"

"Nothing but good business. The usual?"

"You know it," said Silica.

"Yes Ma'am. I'll be right on it. Take a seat," replied Zane, going back to the kitchen to start cooking. Silica and I went and sat down at a four person table.

"So," said Silica, "How is Kirito taking being in a guild again?" I had told Silica about our incident with the Black Cats of the Full Moon.

"Well, it could be worse. He could have no one that he knows in the guild, but luckily he knows Asuna. He'll be okay. Besides, he isn't my master by being weak minded. He'll survive and come out on top. Nothing can stop him when he sets his mind to something.

"Here you go," said Zane as put a burger with fries in front of me, with mashed potatoes, French fries, and ketchup in front of me. He then put Silica's meal, a bowl of creamy mushroom and oyster biscuits.

"Thank you, Zane."

"You welcome. Now have a good day," said Zane before going back to the kitchen to resume his cooking. Silica and I started to eat. While we were eating, I got a message from Kirito.

'Gabriel, get over here as soon as possible. And bring Silica and Pina as well.' When I read the message, my eyes narrowed. I was done with my meal already. I was just waiting for Silica.

"Silica, we need to box your meal. Kirito needs us now. Judging by the message, it's very urgent." Silica nodded and she boxed her meal while I paid for it. We then teleported back to level 22.

|Level 22: Kirito's House: 3:00 p.m.|

"Kirito," I yelled as I knocked on the door, "I'm coming in. I walked I and then saw him and Asuna sitting on a bed with a little girl. "Kirito, are you already cheating on Asuna?" I joked. Kirito and Asuna both glared at me.

"No, I did not. We found this girl in the forest. We were wondering if you, Pina, or Silica would be able to heal her," said Kirito as he scowled at me.

"Damn," I muttered. "I joke around and he and Asuna fly off the handle. Anyways, we'll see what we can do." I reached for my dragonic abilities, which had healing powers and pushed it into the girl before me, while at the same time running a diagnosis on the girl to see what was wrong with her. "Kirito, what did you say was wrong with her?" I asked.

"I didn't," replied Kirito, "All I know is that she fainted as soon as we reached her. I don't know what else is wrong with her. Why?"

"Well according to my diagnosis of her body, nothing is wrong with her. It says that there is nothing for us to fix. She just needs some rest."

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought that she was injured or something. That makes me feel relieved."

"You're welcome. Anyways, I think I'm going to go fishing. You want to come?" I asked, as I requipped my fishing gear.

"No can do. I have to stay here," replied Kirito. I just shrugged and left, with Silica. Soon, we parted ways and I was on my way to the lake. As I walked over to the lake, I thought about how happy Kirito looked. 'He hasn't had the look on his face since the day he started teaching me about this game,' I thought remembering how pleased Kirito was when he saw that I was excelling at learning the sword skills. I reached the lake and then cast my line. Life was good, even though we were in a life-or-death game.

**A/N**

**Hey everyone. I know I haven't updated this story lately, so I hope that this chapter is good enough. **


	9. Final Chapter

|October 20th 2024|

It has been a few days since Silica and I went over to Kirito's house. Apparently, some something went down involving that little girl that they had found in the forest. Kirito doesn't seem to want to share and frankly, I don't really care. It's not my business to pick into what he does in his free time. However, right now, I am sitting in the trees watching Kirito as he was about to embarrass himself.

"Switch!" yelled Kirito after he grabbed the fishing pole from the man with a basket weaved hat. He held onto it for a few seconds like an lagging image that was shown on a video longer than it was supposed to. Then he started to get dragged towards the lake. At the last moment, Kirito was able to stop himself, before trudging back to the grass, but suddenly the line snapped. All the townspeople ran away towards the hills of the grass.

"Kirito, come back," shouted Asuna. Kirito just stood there blinking.

"huh?" asked Kirito before the fish launched out of the lake and onto the land. It started lumbering towards Kirito, who ran and hid behind Asuna.

"So is it a lungfish?" asked Kirito from behind Asuna.

"Kirito! Run!" yelled the fisherman. I was about to step in when Asuna muttered, "Fine, I'll take care of this." She then threw off the clothes that were hiding her identity. She leaped at the fish, killing it with her rapier. The entire crowd was stunned, before realizing who she was. They ran towards her and started hugging and asking her what she was doing here. I was about to leave when I saw the message Kirito got.

'Kirito, we've located the boss room

-Heathcliff'

"So it's time," I muttered before going back home. As I was walking back home, I myself got a message telling me about the boss room and the meeting place. We were to meet right in the town square of level 75. "Silica," I called when I entered my home. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen." I walked to the kitchen to see her painting. "Is something wrong, Gabriel?"

"Silica, I love you, but this is something I have to do."

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Silica.

"Heathcliff has located the boss room." Silica's eyes widened when she understood what I was saying.

"You're going aren't you? You are going to go participate in the fight against the boss?"

"Yes. But I have a few hours before I have to go. Why don't we go out and take a walk around the lake like we did the day we moved here?" Silica nodded and took my hand as we walked out of the house towards the lake. "Silica," I said as we walked, "Both of us know that I might not come back-"

"Don't talk like that," interrupted Silica. "If you talk like that, then you won't come back."

"I know, but if I don't, I just want you to know that you've been the best thing that has happened to me during this entire game. So thank you."

"Oh. Well you are welcome. And the same with you. Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome." We continued walking around the lake in silence, just enjoying the presence of the other. After an hour, I walked to the teleportation platform, before yelling, "Teleport: Level 75!" An orb of blue light surrounded me, and I was transported to the level 75 city square. I saw Klein and Agil giving Kirito and Asuna a hard time. I walked over and slapped Klein on the back.

"Now Klein, it's not nice to give these two lovebirds a hard time. After all, only I am allowed to tease Kirito and Asuna."

"GABRIEL!" yelled Asuna. "That's not very nice. You're not allowed to tease us either."

"Says you," I replied before all the people in the town square turned to look at a group of people who were arriving at the teleportation platform. Heathcliff and his 'elites' were walking out towards the two pillars in the town square. Heathcliff stopped in front of the two pillars and raised his hand with the tall teleportation crystal.

"Corridor, open," said Heathcliff, before heading through the portal that opened. All of us entered through the portal. All of us started equipping all of our best equipment. Heathcliff turned to face us and started to speaking. "Are all of you ready? The knights of blood oath will take the majority of damage on the front line. While we do, I'd like the rest to discern its attack patterns, and prepare to change tactics as necessary. It will be a difficult battle, but I have faith that we can prevail. For our day of Liberation!" After the rousing speech, all of us cheered, including me. Heathcliff pushed the door open, and all of us poured through the doors. When I couldn't see the boss, I extended my senses.

"No enemies on any of the other platforms, enemy on the ceiling?" I whispered, before confusing myself. An enemy was on the ceiling?

"ABOVE US!" cried out Asuna, pointing at the skeleton like creature that was crawling along the ceiling.

"Scatter!" shouted Heathcliff, as the boss monster dropped from the ceiling, killing at least 5 of our 30-man party. I looked at the boss monster and the bars of life appeared along with its name, the Skull Reaper.

"Asuna, Kirito, I'm going to use my unique skills. Get everyone out of my way." Both of them nodded and conveyed my instructions. "Hyourinmaru!" I yelled, slashing my sword vertically, sending out a Japanese dragon at the Skull Reaper, halting it's movements. "HIT IT WHILE ITS IMMOBILE!" I sprouted my wings and flew up, before dive bombing, delivering a powerful strike to its head and stomach.

"Starburst Stream!" yelled Kirito, using the dual sword combo that he had used against Gleam Eyes on floor 74.

"Quickly, hit him harder! The ice is thawing out!" The rest of the remaining players that were still alive started striking the Skull Reaper with greater ferocity, and at a greater speed. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Heathcliff's health had not dropped below yellow. 'How?' I thought as I continued my assault against the skull Reaper.

"RAH!" roared the Skull Reaper as it broke free of its icy shackles.

"No you don't," I shouted, as I flew at it, dodging all the strike attacks from its scythe like appendages. "Dragonic Ice Transformation!" A cloud of icy smoke encased my entire body. From the smoke, I emerged, looking like a Japanese dragon with my long serpentine-like body, and giant wings on my back. My scales were a bright blue and my underside was a pale blue. My claws were also pale blue.

"RAH!" I crashed into the Skull Reaper, coiling my body around it, restricting its movements and attempting to squeeze it to death. I gripped onto the Skull Reaper with my claws, digging into it, and causing massive amounts of damage. I also kept biting on different parts of its body, but mostly I bit the neck and head. Then after about three hours of doing this, and the other players hitting the Skull Reaper repeatedly, the monster was finally destroyed, just after I reverted back to my original form. As I landed on the floor, I saw everyone around me collapse. Everyone except Heathcliff.

"How many did we lose?" asked Kirito. Klein pulled up his user interface menu and looked at the total people lost from the party.

"Thirteen. We lost Thirteen of the Clearers in this attack?"

"Thirteen?" asked Agil from where he was lying down on floor. "If this is only level 75, how are we going to make it through level 76 or even through any of the other 25 levels?" However, I noticed Kirito was staring at Heathcliff, but more importantly at his life gauge. At that moment, I knew who Heathcliff really was. Kirito then shot towards Heathcliff, activating the skill, _Linear_. However, this was stopped by the fact that he held an immortal object.

"What?" asked Kirito.

"What's going on, Commander?" asked Asuna.

"I'll tell you what's going on," I said from behind Asuna and Kirito. "The one that you know as Heatchliff, is actually known as Kayaba Akihiko. " Around us, the entire crowd gasped. "Kirito, you want to explain it to them?"

"Fine, fine. Heathcliff, ever since I entered this game, there has been something that has bothered me. Where does he hide as he watches us? Where does he hide as he makes the adjustments to this game? But I'd forgotten a very crucial element. Nothing is more boring than watching someone else play an RPG. Isn't that right Kayaba Akihiko?"

"Would you tell me when you figured it all out?"

"I figured it out during the duel. When I was about to overwhelm you, you moved way too fast. Previously, you had not been able to move at that speed, and then suddenly at the end of the duel, you were able to out match me in speed," replied Kirito.

"I thought so. That was a big mistake on my part. You were overwhelming me so much that I had to engage the system over-assist mode to win that duel." Everyone stared at Heathcliff like he had lost his mind. Heathcliff took a step forward and proclaimed, "Yes, I am Kayaba Akihiko. And, I would like to add that I would be the final boss awaiting you on the top floor in the Scarlet-Jade Castle. "

"Well, well, this is an interesting plotline," I said. "The strongest player betraying us at the end to become the last boss?"

"Not a bad plotline is it? I always believed that you, Kirito, would be the one to stand before me at the end. Dual Wielding is given to the player that has the fastest reaction time, and then will act out the hero and challenge the demon king. But you exceeded my expectations. And then there is also you, Gabriel. I never expected another Unique Skill to develop within this game. Your dragonic abilities were a surprise to me when I first saw it. But these unexpected events are part of the fun of an MMORPG." As Heathcliff, or Kayaba was talking, one of his elites managed to stand back up.

"HOW DARE YOU?" screamed the player as he jumped at Heathcliff, intending to cut him down. However, Heathcliff went into his menu and paralyzed him. He did this to all other players in the room. However, I was able to break out of the paralysis.

"Hm? Well, well, it seems that you are even able to break out of the paralysis," commented Heathcliff. I sensed what was about to happen and pulled up my menu and started to write out a message to Silica.

'Silica,

This is Gabriel. If you are reading this, then you will know that right now, Kirito and I are about to face off against Heathcliff, who is also Kayaba Akihiko. If we win this, everyone will be logged out. But I can't promise that I will make it out of this duel alive. If I do, I will find you. I promise that!

Love,

Gabriel'

"-chance. A chance to fight me and free everyone from Sword Art Online. If not, then you will just have to make your way to the Scarlet-Jade Palace and beat me," said Heathcliff. I turned to look at Kirito who was kneeling with Asuna in his hands.

"Kirito, I don't know about you, but I'm doing this. I don't care if you're with me or not. I'm fighting him." I walked towards Heathcliff, but a hand was put on my shoulder. I turned to see Kirito.

"If you think I'm letting my student face off against the most powerful player in the game without backup, you're crazy. I'm fighting with you." I nodded happily. As we prepared to face Heathcliff, Kirito and I said our final goodbyes to those that were closest to us. Finally we were ready.

"Kirito, no using any of the skills, understood? We have to rely on our own abilities."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." As the dust settled, all three of us tightened our grip on our weapons. 'We're not aiming to beat him,' I thought, 'We're aiming to kill him. And I will kill him, for Silica and everyone else!' Kirito and I shot forwards at Heathcliff. I knocked his shield out of the way, but he used it to hit me in the stomach. I snarled and sprouted wings to take flight. Meanwhile, Kirito was exchanging blow for blow with Heathcliff.

"ICY FLAMES!" I shouted, as I spewed fire that was freezing everything it touched, including Heathcliff, who jumped away, and tried to break the ice that encased his shield arm and shield, but couldn't. "Good luck breaking that ice, no one can break it, not even you!" I shot towards Heathcliff, my sword, ablaze with icy fire. "ICY FIRE SLASH!" I shouted. I slashed at his sword, which was also frozen. "HYOURINMARU!" Another dragon of ice sprouted from my sword and flew towards Heathcliff, who slammed his ice-block encased sword onto the dragon's head, but it still managed to pin down Heathcliff. "NOW KIRITO!"

"Velocity Slash!" Kirito's blades didn't glow as this wasn't a pre-programmed skill, but rather an attack that Kirito came up with. As Kirito fell, his swords gained more cutting power. But as the dragon moved out of the way, Heathcliff's blade broke out of the ice and arced at Kirito's green sword, destroying it. It then headed Kirito's falling body. But the blade was stopped by a body, just not my body. The body of Asuna was between Kirito and Heathcliff.

"ASUNA!" shouted Kirito as he cradled her body, before it vanished. "No," whispered Kirito before he haphazardly swung his remaining black blade and Asuna's raiper, which was left by Asuna. However, he too was stabbed in the chest, killing him.

"NO!" I yelled, shooting forward, surprising Heathcliff, who was trying to turn to face me, but the spirit of Kirito was holding his sword and keeping him from doing battle. He I appeared behind him, and cut off his head. "Die you bastard," I said, before being logged out. I appeared on a glass floor to see Asuna and Kirito kissing and Silica right next to me.

"Shall we?" I asked.

"We shall," replied Silica. We too kissed each other for what would probably be the last time in Sword Art Online. Soon Kayaba Akihiko appeared and started telling us about his dream. How he wished he could make a place that could float and would be free of all restrctions.

"… and all players have been logged off. Everything will be done in about a minute. That's how long before you wake up," said Kayaba before disappearing. I smiled and hugged Silica and kept her close to me. "I will find you, Silica," I said before disappearing.

|Denver, CO 2024 Littleton Hospital|

"Ngh." I groaned as I got up and pulled off the NerveGear helmet. I looked up to see it was about 12:00 p.m. on November 8th. I looked up to see the doors open and my cousin, Rachael enter.

"Ra-ch," I mumbled. Rachael looked in me in shock before running towards me and hugging me closely.

"Gabriel, you're back. Don't leave us again," cried out Rachael.

"It's okay," I said as I patted my cousin on the head. "I won't. Can you get me released from here?"

"Sure," said Rachael as she signed me out of the hospital. I walked out with my hair covering my eyes and reaching the small of my back, as well as using a walking stick to walk to the car. I got in and asked to go to my parent's house. When we got there, I saw that there were a lot of people at the house. I rang the doorbell. My mother answered through the intercom.

"Hello, who is this?" asked my mom.

"Hey mom, it's me. It's Gabriel." My mother screamed and started running towards the door and unlocked it, and engulfed me in a hug. As I stepped into the house, I saw all of my friends here. "Hey everyone, I'm back."


End file.
